Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses (22 May 1455-16 June 1487) was a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster (associated with a red rose) and the House of York (associated with a white rose). The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI of England, which revived interest in Richard of York's claim to the throne. The structural problems of feudalism and Henry VI's weak rule caused for the Yorkists and their supporters among the nobility to rebel, and King Henry was twice imprisoned by the Yorkists. On 25 October 1460, King Henry VI agreed to the Act of Accord, in which the Duke of York became "Lord Protector", and in which the Duke of York and his heirs were promised the right to succeed Henry. Queen Margaret of Anjou and several prominent Lancastrian nobles were irreconciliably opposed to the accord, and they massed their armies in the north. In December 1460, York occupied Sandal Castle and sortied against the Lancastrian army at Wakefield, where York and his allies Edmund, Earl of Rutland and Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury were slain.

After the Duke of York's death, the claim transferred to his heir, Edward of York, who decisively defeated Owen Tudor's Lancastrian army at Mortimer's Cross on the Welsh border on 2 February 1461. After the Battle of Towton in March, the Duke of York became "King Edward IV", and he overcame the Lancastrian challenge to his throne at Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471. The Prince of Wales was slain during this battle, and King Henry VI was murdered in prison shortly afterwards. His son reigned as Edward V of England for 86 days before Parliament decided that he and his brother Richard were illegitimate, and it instead handed the crown to his younger brother, who became King Richard III of England.

In 1483, the political stability in England created after Tewkesbury was shattered after 12 years of fragile peace. The Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Richmond rebelled against Richard III from October to November 1483, but the Earl of Richmond's forces were prevented from arriving from Brittany by a gale, and Buckingham was captured and executed. The Earl of Richmond later made a successful landing in southern Wales, marshalling up support among local populations as he marched on London. On 22 August 1485, Richmond's army clashed with Richard III in the decisive Battle of Bosworth Field. Richard III ordered a massive charge against the Lancastrian army, during which he was killed. The Earl of Richmond was crowned "King Henry VII" as the first English monarch from the House of Tudor, and he married Edward IV's eldest daughter and heir Elizabeth of York, uniting the two claims to the throne. The war ended in a Lancastrian victory, and it ended the Plantagenet dynasty, established the Tudor dynasty, ended the Middle Ages in England, strengthened the English monarchy under Tudor rule, and led to the dawn of the English Renaissance.